| Product: |
Lord of the Flies - William Golding |
| Date: |
09/06/01 (284 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Thought Provoking., Fast paced., Not just for school children.
Disadvantages: Proposes frightening concepts., Not for the faint hearted!, Associated with school work.
'The flames arrupted with frightening speed, spreading through the tinder dry field faster than any of them could run. The greyish-blue smoke rose high into the sky, covering the sun like a vale of mourning, polluting the clarity of the summer's sky, casting shadows upon them. Adrenaline surged through their veins, and they took flight, away from the flames, away from the danger.'
Well alright, this isn't a quote from Lord Of The Flies, William Golding's most wellknown work. The truth is, us girls shouldn't have been smoking at the top of the field. But it wasn't me who flicked their fag butt into a neighbouring field, setting it a light. As far as I know, we were all hidden safely back in the school building before the fire brigade arrived, and got off 'scot free'. We all felt very bad, but secretly loved the feeling of being rebels, rebels on the headmaster's 'wanted list'. I suspect the others how ever felt as bad as I did, and dreaded being caught. We had an inner 'policeman' that new we had been bad.
Golding's story sets out to describe the course of events that take place on an uninhabited coral island, when a plane carrying a group of school boys crashes. There are no adults, and the boys experience real freedom. School children have always tried rebelling against the system to, it makes them feel powerful, it's exciting and great fun. Golding's characters are no different, but their first experiences of freedom in their short lives leads to a catalogue of unexpected events.
*The Author*
Born in 1911 in Newquay, Cornwall, Golding spent many of his early years faced with the atrocities and effects of war. During World War Two, he joined the Royal navy, later to become commandre of a 'rocket ship'. He saw battle and took part in the D-Day Landings.
It has been written that as a result of these events, Golding nolonger believed in man'
;s innocence, indeed, most of his writing deals with the darker side of human nature.
Educated at Brasenose College Oxford, he later became a prominent essayist and poet. 'Lord Of The Flies' was first published in 1954, and rapidly rose to become a modern day classic, studied by children, appreciated by all.
In 1983, Golding was awarded the Nobel Prize For Literature. In awarding him, the foundation commended him for;
"His novels, which with the perspicuity of realistic narrative art, and the diversity and universality of myth, illuminates the human condition in the world today."
My, if I could have come up with that, I wouldn't perhaps have had to warbled on so much! Golding, without a doubt, believed in the forces of evil. His early life had had a profound influence on him, and he felt all men were capable of barbarism and destruction. Although he believed in a 'god', he did not believe in organised religion. This profile of his character, although brief, helped me to understand where his writing was comming from when he created this powerful book. Golding died in 1993.
*Story Line*
It is World War Two. A plane has crashed into a tropical island. The surviving boys(the pilot is dead), come together after Ralph, one of the first characters we are introduced to, finds and blows a 'Conch' shell. The boys spread across the beach hear the sound and are drawn towards it.
The first meeting reveals the differences in the characters of the boys, and thus the potential for disagreement. The boys quickly vote Ralph in as their leader. Ralph's first sensible decision is to light and maintain a signal fire so that a passing ship might see. Another strong character, Jack makes an early challenge for the leadership, but must content himself with leading hunts to find food. He feels that hunting for food is more important than keeping a fire on the go, and tries to sell his id
eas to the other boys by proclaiming it's fun and excitement.
To begin with, the whole concept of being marooned is seen as being a big enjoyable adventure, with little foresight, but power conflicts and anarchy soon follow with drastic results.
The story takes you through events that leave you hurrying to turn each page right up to the final terribly ironic ending. But of course I shall leave this for you to discover for yourself.
*Characters*
Ralph:
Ralph is one of the first two characters we meet, and perhaps the most charismatic of the group. 12 years old, blonde, and 'built like a boxer'. Ralph appears to be clever, positive and reasoning.
The group choose Ralph to be their leader, and throughout the book, Ralph strives to maintain order within the group.
Piggy:
Ralph is the first to meet Piggy, a short overweight child, who suffers with 'ass-mar', for which amongst other things he is taunted.
He is very short sighted, and relies heavily on his glasses to see. These become an essential part of the story as the boys soon realise that they need Piggy's glasses to start fires.
Piggy, although perhaps the least eloquant, is probably the most clever of the boys. He puts up with constant jibes, yet seeks to be accepted by the rest of the group. As the tale progresses, Ralph becomes more reliant on Piggy for support. I found myself liking Piggy a great deal, and having great sympathy for his character.
Jack:
Jack. Mmm, where do you start with Jack. Similar in age to Ralph, yet of more slender build with red hair and freckles. Jack is head chorister to the choir, who quickly become the 'hunters' under his leadership.
From the very start, we see Jack opposing Ralph's leadership, and sense his mounting anger. We also see the way Jack reacts to hunting for wild pig, and his propensiy to savagery. The following dial
ogue demonstartes the mounting tention between the boys;
"I'm chief. I was chosen."
"Why should choosing make any difference? Just giving orders that don't make any sense--"
"Piggy's got the conch."
"That's right- favour Piggy as you always do--"
"Jack!"
Jack's voice sounded in bitter mimicry.
"Jack! Jack!"
"The rules!" shouted Ralph, "you're breaking the rules!"
"Who cares?"
Ralph summoned his wits.
"Because the rules are the only thing we've got!"
But Jack was shouting against him.
"Bollocks to the rules! We're strong-we hunt! If there's a beast, we'll hunt it down! We'll close in and beat and beat and beat-!"
Simon:
Simon is younger than the other boys, yet older than the 'littluns', those of around 6 and 7 years. Simon is good and pure, and seeks to later reassure Ralph when problems occur.
Roger:
Roger in comparison, represents pure evil and wrongness. He shows no mercy, and during one particular episode, appears to get sadistic pleasure from torturing a pig.
Sam And Eric:
Sam and Eric are identicle twins. They go every where together, do everything together, and speak at the same time. Eventually they are counted amongst the group as one person(Samneric), when it comes to allocating tasks such as collecting fire wood or water.
*Themes*
Without wishing to spoil the book, it is safe to say that the story has a pessimistic feel to it. The books main themes seem to suggest that without society, we are all capable of returning to savagery. This may seem far fetched, but this is why Golding uses the scenario of children marooned, as a vehicle to transport his ideas.
To begin with, the island serves as a microcosm of the real world, with all it's realities and conflict
s, highlighted by the story being set during the war. Here, the boys are untouchable by the outside world, and therefore left to maintain their own order. It has been said that Golding used school boys, and not teenagers or adults, to tell his story because they are young enough to have not been fully socially conditioned. As the boys face challenges and crisis, they must revert to that which is inherant within, and be led by their instincts.
You may feel that a group of boys including a choir, would be inherantly good, but not so. Golding wishes you to believe in the concept of 'original sin', and he demonstrates this through the behaviour of the vast majority of his characters, even at times those whom you previously felt were 'sound' and 'trustworthy'. Golding himself stated that the moral of the book is that;
"The shape of a society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system, however apparently logical or respectable."
When the moral integrity of the majority fails, the 'make-shift' society rapidly crumbles, and their attempts at survival become a free for all.
This book may be recommended for reading as part of a syllabus, but make no mistake, at times it's harsh and makes shocking reading.
*Symbolism*
LOTF is rife with symbolism. The most obvious of which is the 'Conch' shell. Originally found by Piggy and retieved by Ralph. The Conch must be held by a boy during an assembly of the group if he wishes to speak. it symbolises democracy and order, and as these begin to fail, the Conch, once respected, begins to matter less and less, ending it's life as powder.
Religious symbolism can be found throughtout the book. The character Simon is so good and pure as to be 'Christ'like, where is Roger's character is more a kin to evil or Satan himself.
The Lord Of The Flies in the title is
the head of a dead pig that the hunters have killed and eaten, stuffed onto a stake burried in the ground. After some time it is seithing with black flies, and Simon imagines that it talks to him. It represents the devil and great danger.
The destruction of the jungle as the plane originaly crashes, is refered to as the 'scar'. Before the crash, we begin to feel that the island was a place of perfection, untouched by human hand. We then see that the constantly refered to 'scar', represents the destructive forces of man.
As already mentioned, Piggy's glasses are an important and powerful object. They light the signal fire that in itself represents common sense and rescue for the boys from immorality. However, throught the book, Piggy is seen to remove and clean his steamed up glasses. Golding uses this symbolism to portray the need for social order, clear sightedness and intelligence.
So much more symbolism exists in this book, you will perhaps enjoy making your own intepretation however. Thses are just a small list of things, but Golding wishes his reader to make even more symbolic deductions from the piece.
*Conclusion*
Being compulsory reading for school children, myself once included, has no doubt in some way spoilt the reputation of this book. My copy sat on my book shelf unread for 18 years until this week. If I had read it properly then, instead of sneeking to the top of the school field with my mates and getting up to know good, perhaps I would have enjoyed it back then instead of viewing it as work.
Even without deeper analysis, this book makes a dam good read with a fast paced storyline, and has colourful and wonderfully expressive narrative that takes you to the island and shares with you the views and scenery the boys also see. You feel the fustration, anger, fear and hopelessness that the characters, just little boys, feel, and the book's thought provoking and hugely ironic e
nding stays with you for a lond time.
At the end of the book you may find yourself wondering if given the same situation, you would resort to savage behaviour, or have the capacity for evil. I don't really believe this, but perhaps you may feel differently after reading Lord Of The Flies.
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